South Korean movie “Pieta”, an ultra-violent story of a loan shark confronted by a mysterious woman claiming to be his mother, scooped the Golden Lion award for best picture at the Venice film festival on Saturday.

The other big winner on the night was Paul Thomas Anderson's “The Master”, loosely based on the early days of Scientology, which earned him a Silver Lion for best director and a joint best actor award for Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. – Text and photos by Agencies.